Students from the School of Philosophy and Letters do internships at the University's General file

Every year, students from the School of Philosophy and Letters have the opportunity to do extracurricular internships at the University's Generalfile . This is the case of Carmen Gómez Margarito and María Medina, 4th year History students, and Juan Pablo Gallego, 5th year Hispanic Philology student, who, from January to March, were able to learn about the world of archiving and acquire skills for the conservation and digitization of historical collections kept at the University of Navarra.

During their internships, our students have worked with valuable documentary and historical collections. One of the most outstanding works has been the Catalog the correspondence of the Luis de Miguel Aláiz family collection, which covers three generations of political representatives of the Quiñones de León family, Marquisate of Montevirgen. Also, part of the file of Vicente Mortes, Minister of Housing between 1969 and 1973, has been signed and installed, as well as the digitalization of a selection of plans from the file of the architect José Yárnoz Larrosa.

For Carmen Gómez Margarito, the experience of working with historical documents has been very enriching. "The most interesting thing has been the approach to the person about whom we read the information. They are still papers that need to be sorted, but when you follow the track of a fund continuously, it becomes even staff because of the amount of information you read about the person you are investigating," she says. He also highlights how these practices have allowed him to discover a new perspective on history.

For her part, María Medina highlights the importance of the cataloging process as one of the most challenging and at the same time most interesting aspects of her experience. "Challenging, because reading the documents is not easy, the handwriting is not always understandable. And interesting, because you learn a lot during the process: to research, to pay attention to details, to contrast...". She also emphasizes how the internship has given her a broader vision and internship in historical research .

Juan Pablo Gallego, another of the participants in this internship, highlights the importance of this experience in his training. "I have always been interested in work with historical documents and the value they have for the preservation of knowledge". Among the tasks he has performed, digitization has been the one that most caught his attention: "I found it the most interesting because it involves working with old documents and making sure they are accessible without damaging them. It is a meticulous process that requires attention to detail to obtain quality images and, at the same time, respect the integrity of the original material".

In addition to the practical knowledge acquired, this experience at the General file also allows students to discover the professional possibilities offered by this field. As Carmen points out, "archival work goes unnoticed and yet the scientific work they do is so crucial that there is always a lack of hands to handle the amount of information that arrives". For his part, Juan Pablo emphasizes that, in the future, "this experience may open doors for me in the field of document management , archival science or even research, because now I can better understand how information sources are structured and safeguarded". This opinion is shared by Maria: "Doing an internship at the file is a great enrichment for our professional future, especially if there is a subsequent dedication to research".